The DADA Mansion
by nessva
Summary: After a quiet 5th year at Hogwarts, the students return to find a new challenge has been set up for them - The Defence Against the Dark Arts Mansion - a mansion on a part of the Hogwarts grounds, filled with Dark Arts creatures and curses. The students ar
1. The DADA Mansion chapter one

THE DADA MANSION  
  
CHAPTER ONE - WELCOME BACK  
  
Never had Hogwarts, or any other magic or non-magic school ever seen a student more eager to return after the school holidays. But, as they say, Harry Potter was no ordinary boy. After a relatively relaxing fifth year (well apart from O.W.L's) at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and a much more stressful summer back at the Dursley's, Harry had never been so glad to see his familiar dormitory again, not to mention his dorm and classmates, including of course Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Lying back on his four-poster bed, full after another delicious Hogwarts feast, he closed his eyes and thought back to a few hours ago, to his wonderful reunion with his friends, whom, for once, he had not been able to visit all summer, because the Dursley's had been on the warpath again, terribly upset because he hadn't flunked his O.W.L's, which, as much as they hated anything to do with magic, would have been the perfect opportunity to lock him back in his room and feed him as little as possible. Recalling how horrible that had been after his first year at Hogwarts, he shuddered, and once again thought how lucky he was to live at Hogwarts all year. Opening his eyes as he heard the door open, he smiled at Ron as he came into the room and flopped on his bed, face-forward.  
  
Groaning, Ron turned over and looked at Harry saying, "Remind me never to eat again."  
  
At the pained look on Ron's face, Harry burst out laughing, as did his fellow dorm-mates, Seamus, Neville, and Dean, who walked in through the door just as Ron spoke.  
  
"As if you'll never eat again!" chortled Seamus, closing the door behind him, as Harry, Neville and Dean continued to laugh as hard as ever. Ron looked pleadingly at Harry, as if to say, 'Tell them to stop teasing me', but this just made Harry laugh even harder. Ron, with some difficulty, stood up in a mock huff and strode towards the door, saying something about going where he was appreciated. Still acting as though he were offended he threw open the door to find a shocked looking Hermione whose arm was raised in mid-knock. The look on Hermione's face was well warranted, not just because the door had opened and shocked her, but because of the strange scene that had greeted her: Ron acting as though he had just been crowned King of England, then offended, and Harry, Seamus, Neville and Dean all sitting on the floor, hastily trying the stifle their outbursts of laughter.  
  
Attempting to remain dignified (as none of the boys clearly were), Hermione quickly took in the strange scene, turned slowly to face Harry and said, "Harry, I was wondering if I might talk to you for a moment in the common room?"  
  
This shut the boys up quickly. Ron stood at the door, still holding the handle, gaping at Hermione as if she'd just calmly asked him why he'd grown another head over the summer, while Harry nodded hesitatingly and got up and slowly walked over to the door, detaching Ron from the handle, then walking out and closing the door behind him to utter silence from the dorm room. Following Hermione down the stairs to the nearly deserted Gryffindor common room, Harry didn't have the time to contemplate what Hermione might want that couldn't have been said earlier, and with everyone around. They reached the common room, and Hermione stopped and turned around. As most students had gone up to bed already, the chairs by the common room fire were free. Hermione gestured for Harry to sit down, and after looking around nervously she began to speak.  
  
"When I was buying my books in Diagon Alley last week, my parents and I stopped at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour for an ice cream. We... well actually I heard some of the school governors talking about the 'new program' to prepare students for the Defence Against the Dark Arts NEWT's next year."  
  
Harry wasn't sure whether to look scandalized or delirious with joy by Hermione's eavesdropping, let alone her eavesdropping on important school governors. Seeing the look on his face, Hermione continued, "Harry, they're setting up some sort of challenge for us. It's practical. And it's not going to be the easy stuff that we've learnt so far, like getting past boggarts, its real defence against the dark arts stuff. We've never had any sort of training for this; I don't see how they can allow us to be endangered. It's, it's..." her voice trailed off.  
  
Hearing the note of desperation coming into her voice, Harry said comfortingly, "Look Hermione, they're not going to let us get hurt, I'm sure it'll be something like the third task of the triwizard tournament, you know, how if we were in trouble all we had to do was shoot up red sparks and a teacher would come and help us." Harry couldn't really see what she was getting so worked up about.  
  
Hermione shook her head, "Yeah you were really safe when you were being attacked by Viktor when he was under the Imperius Curse, weren't you?"  
  
Harry now was truly annoyed. "What's wrong with you Hermione? Can't you just not worry about school for two seconds? We haven't even started classes yet and you're worried about them! The NEWT's aren't even until NEXT YEAR, Hermione. Get a life."  
  
With that, Harry stormed back upstairs and into his dormitory, and, ignoring the comments made by Dean, got into his bed and pulled the hangings around him, but not before looking at Ron, putting his finger on his lips and jerking his head towards the other side of the room, giving Ron the signal that they'd talk after the other three were asleep.  
  
Given that it was the first night back after the holidays, it was a while before everyone fell asleep, finally tired of talking. When the dorm room was finally quiet (apart from Neville's snores) Harry crept over to Ron's bed and prodded him awake. They then crept down to the now completely empty common room and sat (in Harry's case, for the second time that evening) in the chairs by the fireplace. Barely waiting for Ron to sit down, Harry started, in Ron's opinion, blurting out some long-winded, boring story about Hermione. That she was only worried about school and never thought about anyone else when she was worried about something school related and...  
  
Ron chose to blank out, and waited patiently until Harry had finally stopped speaking. Turning his attention back to Harry, Ron said, "Look, we all know how seriously Hermione takes her school work. I think that after five years, and everything we've tried to do to make her relax about it, you would know what she's like, and well, kind of expect this from her."  
  
Harry looked away.  
  
"It's not a personal attack on you, you know," continued Ron, "It's just the way she is. She has annoyed me so many times that the number is bigger than one I know how to count to. In fact, ask anyone who's been in a class with her over the last five years and I'll bet they tell you the same thing."  
  
Harry smiled. "Ok, I know that would be true, but," he hesitated before continuing, allowing Ron the chance to jump in.  
  
"But it should be different for you, Harry? Why?" he questioned.  
  
"It's not that it's just, well..." Harry's voice trailed off again.  
  
"Look Harry, it's two in the morning, and I want to go to bed." Ron said, "But I'll give you one more chance to tell me what's really on your mind, because not for one minute do I believe that you've kept me from my nice, warm bed just to talk to me about Hermione."  
  
"Ok, ok. You know how I told her these practical tests are probably just going to be like the third task of the Triwizard Tournament?" Ron nodded, "Well the part I didn't say before was that she made a comment about when Cedric and I were attacked by Viktor when he was under the Imperious Curse." Harry closed his eyes, as if the pain were still too much to bear.  
  
It was as if Harry had said the so-called 'magic' word. Cedric. Suddenly Ron understood why Harry had reacted in the way he had to what ordinarily would have been just another of Hermione's panic attacks about school. Although he never said it in as many words, Ron knew that Harry still had fits of guilt over what had happened at the end of fourth year. For some reason that Ron couldn't understand, Harry still thought that it was his fault that Voldemort murdered Cedric. As much as Ron and Hermione had been there for him after the task had finished, waiting by his bedside for him to wake up, there was no way that anyone could imagine what Harry had gone through. Not just throughout the tournament itself, but also in seeing his mortal (or maybe immortal - no-one knows) enemy's rise once again. To make things worse, no one had seen any signs of Voldemort all throughout their fifth year at Hogwarts. Harry was sure that this meant Voldemort had a dastardly plan in the making, something far, far worse than he'd ever done before.  
  
Taking all of this in, Ron spoke, "Look, Harry, I know I've probably said this a hundred times before, but no-one blames you for what happened to Cedric. His parents don't, Cho doesn't, no one does. I know you can't see this for some reason, and that's why I'm here. As your best friend it's my duty to tell you the things that you are too stubborn to see, even if it is obvious to everyone else."  
  
Harry opened his eyes. "I know that. Logically, I know that. But there's some part of me that still constantly tells me that I could have done something to stop Voldemort from Avada Kedavra-ing Cedric."  
  
Ron snorted, "Yeah, that's the part of you that I call stupid. Look, Harry, and read my lips: there was NOTHING that you could have done. I repeat: nothing. We can't control everything that happens to us, or to those around us."  
  
Harry smiled sadly. "Yeah I guess that's true."  
  
"Although you still don't truly believe it, do you?" asked Ron.  
  
"No." Harry said simply.  
  
"I guess that's why you're the Boy Who Lived." Ron stated matter-of-factly, "You don't believe in the things that we mere mortals do, and that makes you act differently. But just try to remember that. You are different... well no," Ron contemplated, "you think differently from all of us. That's a part of who you are, Harry, and I'm sorry to be the one to break it to you, but there's nothing you can do about it."  
  
Harry smirked.  
  
"What?" said Ron indignantly.  
  
"That's awfully insightful for two in the morning." Harry said.  
  
Ron laughed, "Yeah well, I do my best."  
  
"But you're right." Harry continued, "I know all of these things logically, I just can't convince the part of me that decides what to do."  
  
Ron yawned, "That's great Harry. Now can we go back to the dorm?"  
  
"Lead the way."  
  
*******  
  
Yawning and stretching, the Gryffindor's made their way slowly down to the Great Hall the next morning, some eager (Hermione) and some not (Ron) to be starting another year of nearly endless work and assignments. Trailing the group that was making their way to the Hall were Harry and Ron, both walking slowly and both having overslept, stumbled through the big wooden doors into the Great Hall. They saw that Hermione was already sitting in their usual place quietly eating toast and eagerly flicking through her books, no doubt trying to learn everything before everyone else. Ron sat down next to Hermione, and Harry next to Ron.  
  
"Morning," said Hermione cheerfully, while not looking up from her book, she handed them their timetables, which they promptly pushed aside, reaching for food.  
  
For the next few minutes there wasn't much talk at that end of the table. The only sounds that could be heard were those of hungry mouths being filled with more delicious food.  
  
"Gee," Ron said, finally full enough to pause eating for a minute, "these house-elves have out done themselves this morning. I hope this carries on all year, don't you think Harry? Harry?"  
  
Hermione looked up from her book just long enough to death-stare Ron. Although she now had given up on the whole S.P.E.W idea, it was only because she couldn't get enough people involved. Ron quickly looked away, and started to turn back to his food, when he saw Harry gaping open-mouthed at his timetable.  
  
"What's wrong, Harry?" inquired Hermione, finally looking up from her book, concerned.  
  
Harry seemed to come out of his stupor at the sound of Hermione's voice. He shook his head as if to wake himself up.  
  
"What? Oh, nothings wrong, well actually, umm, well," he stuttered.  
  
"What?" asked Ron.  
  
"Well, it's just that, well, just look at this." Harry said, and put his timetable flat on the table and pointed to the first square on Monday.  
  
"What?" said Ron, "We have Defence Against the Dark Arts first. What's the big deal with that?"  
  
"Oh, no," said Hermione, looking at the piece of paper.  
  
"Would someone please tell me what I'm missing here?" said Ron, getting a bit annoyed.  
  
"Look at who the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is." Harry was finally able to put together a coherent sentence.  
  
Ron leaned over to look at Harry's timetable, and finally saw what people up and down the table were starting to notice. To make sure it wasn't a mistake, he looked at his timetable too. There, in plain English, in black and white, it said: Teacher - Professor S. Snape. Ron's jaw dropped open.  
  
"Well," said Harry, still shocked, "It looks like Snape finally got the teaching position he's been after for years."  
  
Ron looked at Harry in distress, and said, "How on earth can you calmly sit there and act like it's ok? It's not ok! He'll get to torture all of us in two different lessons now! Think about it, Harry, in Potions he's been trying to accidentally poison us for years! Now he can continue to try and poison us, while 'accidentally' setting dangerous creatures on us! I know that Dumbledore's a trusting person, but how can any sane person judge Snape responsible enough to teach a Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Maybe Dumbledore can't be considered sane anymore..." Ron continued on, but Harry was distracted by the look, however brief, of sheer terror that came across Hermione's face when Ron was talking about the creatures being set on them.  
  
Noticing that Harry was looking at her with a worried expression on his face, Hermione shook her head to say 'Not now, Harry', then turned to Ron and tried to stop him from raving on about Snape.  
  
*******  
  
The class filed quietly into the newly re-furnished Defence Against the Dark Arts room, through the door at the back of the room, and took their seats just as quietly. Looking around the room, there seemed to be no more scars left on the walls (or ceilings or any other part of the room), to remind them of the slight mishap that occurred last year. A first year, on a dare, had snuck into the room when a boggart had been captured there. The first year had somehow gotten past all the defensive charms that had been placed on the door and had then, of course, found himself facing his greatest fear; a strange creature, about eight feet tall, and with arms and legs that were armed with long, sharp, and glistening blades. No one knew exactly what had happened, but it was assumed that the creature had attacked, and left the young boy running desperately around the room trying to simultaneously defend himself and hide. A school Prefect, who had been wandering past the room at the time, heard the racket coming from the room, and sounded the alarm. By the time the monstrous creature had been subdued, the young boy was unconscious and badly cut up, but thanks to Madam Pomfrey, he lived with only scars to show for his story.  
  
Most of the class seemed to be preoccupied, probably thinking of the young boy, except of course for Draco Malfoy. He seemed perfectly happy to continually entertain all those who remained his captive audience including most of the Slytherins, but most of all Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson.  
  
But even he took a seat and quieted down when the door to the classroom suddenly opened. Snape paused at the door to survey his new class. Glaring at some students, and ignoring others completely, Snape walked with calculated slowness up to his desk at the front of the classroom. Standing behind the desk at the front of the class Professor Snape fixed his glare across the room. This glare was one all students were now familiar with, and it brought back memories to each and every one of them. Memories of the numerous times they had been subjected to its intensity in their last five years at Hogwarts.  
  
Snape cleared his throat loudly. "Well well well." he said slowly, in the most menacing voice he could muster, "Welcome back. What a," he paused, "pleasure it is to teach this class once more." 


	2. The DADA Mansion chapter two

THE DADA MANSION  
  
CHAPTER TWO - THE DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS MANSION  
  
Looking menacingly over his class, Professor Severus Snape continued to speak. "What a pleasure indeed it is to look at this class knowing that I can now," he paused again, "arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind."  
  
The class was still deathly silent.  
  
"This year, however," he continued, "will not be the same as most other years. The Ministry of Magic has decided to put into effect a new program that will teach you to defend yourself in practical situations. Throughout the year, you will find yourselves taking turns spending a day or two in Hogwart's newly acquisitioned mansion, which was bought specifically for the purpose of training you sixth years. Yes, Miss Brown?"  
  
Lavender was hesitatingly putting her hand in the air.  
  
"Excuse me, Sir, but I was wondering exactly how long we would be in this mansion for. I mean, you said a day or two..."  
  
"Ah, good point. The mansion will be run as a sort of, to use Muggle," Snape shuddered slightly, as if this were a dirty word, "terms, obstacle course. There will be tasks that you must overcome before you are allowed to go on to the next task, and then eventually leave, I suppose." he added with a smirk.  
  
"So, it'll be sort of like the third task of the Triwizard tournament from fourth year then sir?" called Malfoy.  
  
"I suppose that is a fair comparison, Malfoy." said Snape, "For the rest of this lesson, I have been instructed to take you down and show you the mansion, so that you may know what it looks like and get a feel for the grounds in daylight, and before any of the challenges are put in place."  
  
With that he strode to the back of the room, opened the door, and without looking back, walked out and turned down the hallway that led to the front of the school. The class got up and, with some trepidation, began to follow Snape down the winding passages and stairwells that Hogwarts contained within its high walls. Hermione gestured to Ron and Harry to get up slowly, so that they could be the last few people who followed the group downstairs. As soon as the majority of the class had left the room, Hermione started walking, and Ron and Harry followed. Seeing that they were relatively separate from the main group of students, Hermione started speaking.  
  
"See, Harry, I told you that this couldn't be a good thing. Dark Arts challenges and creatures, there will be so many chances for things to go wrong that it's..." She was cut off speaking when they heard running footsteps behind them, and then Harry and Ron felt someone put an arm around each of their shoulders.  
  
"You know, I never thought I'd be seeing the day when I agreed with a Mudblood, especially this one," Malfoy said, shooting Hermione a particularly nasty look, "But, hey, even the best of us can be surprised sometimes. Speaking of which," he continued in a heavily sarcastic voice, "Potter, who you gonna get killed this year?" he inquired with a smug look.  
  
Getting over the shock of having Malfoy in such close proximity to them, Harry and Ron simultaneously shrugged his arms off of their shoulders and turned to glare at Malfoy, who, of course, was accompanied by his ever- present sidekicks, Crabbe and Goyle.  
  
"Oh, go eat slugs Malfoy." said Ron viciously.  
  
This made Malfoy look even more smug. "If I remember correctly, Weasley, you're the one who likes doing that."  
  
Ron flushed, remembering spewing up slugs for a good part of an hour in second year. To cover up Ron's obvious embarrassment, and indignantly on Harry's behalf, Hermione said, "What on earth are you talking about, Malfoy? Harry's never killed anyone." she said defensively, then as an afterthought, added scathingly, "You probably have, though."  
  
Malfoy smirked. "Well I won't deny that, Granger. And I think you'll find that our little hero here, The Boy Who Lived, is in fact very responsible for the death of that Hufflepuff nitwit, ex-Hufflepuff nitwit now, Diggory."  
  
For the first time since being stopped by Malfoy, Harry turned, and, completely ignoring Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, spoke to Ron and Hermione. "Let's go. We'd better catch up to the rest of the group; we don't need to give Snape any reason to take points off Gryffindor before we even have any."  
  
The three of them turned and started walking fast in order to catch up with the rest of the class, followed by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who taunted them until they were within earshot of Snape, who glared ferociously at all of them, but said nothing, just turned and led the class towards the mansion, towering above them, on what looked like a recently cleared part of the Dark Forrest.  
  
*******  
  
As was usual at night after dinner, most Gryffindors had congregated in the common room, still needing time to talk to each other after the summer holidays and catch up on the gossip, under the pretence of doing homework. When Ron had to run upstairs to get a book he had forgotten, Hermione used this opportunity to say what she had been trying to get a chance to say all day.  
  
"Look Harry, about last night."  
  
She paused, and Harry stiffened his posture slightly. The whole day they had acted as if they hadn't had a fight last night. It wasn't as if they'd never fought before, but for some reason Hermione couldn't put her finger on, this fight seemed different.  
  
"I'm sorry for being so insensitive last night. I know that you still think, wrongly, if I may add, that it's your fault Cedric died. I wasn't thinking of you, I was absolutely selfish and uncaring. I'm so sorry, Harry."  
  
Harry turned and smiled wistfully at her. "You sound like Ron." he said, mostly to himself.  
  
Hermione noticed this, but chose not to comment.  
  
Harry continued, "You worry about school more than anyone I've ever known Hermione, and I know how important it is to you."  
  
Leaning forward anxiously, Hermione jumped in, "That still doesn't give me the right to say things without any consideration for your feelings though."  
  
"You're right; it doesn't. But no one's perfect." stated Harry.  
  
"Do you accept my apology then; is everything alright between us?" Hermione asked, with more than a hint of worry slipping into her voice.  
  
"Of course I accept your apology, Hermione."  
  
Hermione sat back slightly, relieved. Speaking more to herself than to Harry, she muttered, "Darn it. I hate it when..."she trailed off, suddenly aware that Harry was still watching her closely.  
  
With a smile he said, "I hate it when..."  
  
Hermione blushed slightly.  
  
"Well, I only realized why you got so upset with me last night when Malfoy," Harry's smile hardened slightly at the mere mentioning of Malfoy's name, "referred to the Triwizard tournament and then to Cedric. I don't know why it took me so long to realize that was why you were upset last night."  
  
"Hermione," Harry said, "Let's consider this old news now?"  
  
She smiled, said "Ok." then went back to her book.  
  
*******  
  
"My Lord? Are you awake?"  
  
"If you have disturbed me pointlessly Wormtail, you will pay." The Dark Lord Voldemort swiveled his chair around and glowered at Wormtail, who unwittingly took a few steps back.  
  
"I-I assure you, my Lord, this is something that I think you want to see," said Wormtail.  
  
"You think, Wormtail?" Voldemort asked mockingly, turning to face him "Apart from the fact that I would have never expected you to know how to think, I do not require you to do so."  
  
"Y-Yes-Yes, my Lord." Wormtail stuttered.  
  
Giving Wormtail a reprieve from his fierce glare, Voldemort turned to face the empty fireplace. "What is that you disturbed me for?"  
  
"I have received an owl from one of the Death Eaters, my Lord. It looks important." Impatiently, Voldemort got up from his chair, walked around his desk, and grabbed the parchment out of Wormtail's shiny magical hand. Sensing that Lord Voldemort was not in a good mood, he immediately shrunk back and stood against the nearest wall, as if he were trying to become invisible.  
  
Voldemort strode around the room as he read the letter; then stopped, muttered "Indencio!" and threw the parchment into the now burning fire. Wormtail whimpered, afraid he had disturbed his master for nothing.  
  
"Very interesting. Very interesting indeed." Voldemort spoke quietly, but not without some satisfaction, to himself. Whirling around suddenly, he faced Wormtail. "Wormtail. It appears we have another chance to kill someone."  
  
Cowering even further into the wall, Wormtail did not reply. Noticing his behavior, but ignoring it, Voldemort continued, "It appears that young Harry Potter will, once again, be vulnerable to, well, me, this year. Ah, Wormtail, I had seen this coming for a long time. All last year, we were unable to do anything to even torment him. However, good fortune has once again come my way."  
  
*******  
  
Classes were continuing as normal for the sixth years, although there were some notable differences from previous years. The main one of these being that now they had double the amount of time to be terrified that Professor Snape was going to kill them, or at least harm them severely. There had been numerous complaints to McGonagall and Dumbledore about that from students. In addition to these complaints, there was becoming an abundance of students wanting to transfer out of one or the other of the classes that Snape taught. However, the teachers simply ignored the students' whining and complaining and went on with their lives.  
  
Walking down the hall after Transfiguration, heading to the Defence Against the Dark Arts mansion, the class seemed depressed. Even the Slytherins hadn't had it easy over the recent weeks. Snape seemed to have forgotten that he seldom took points off students in his own house, and now Slytherin was placed last in the house cup. Their day wasn't about to get any better.  
  
Advancing into the classroom, Snape observed the students' looks on their faces, and began to speak with faked kindness. "Class. You look so despondent." he paused, then continued in a voice that had just a hint of sarcasm and fake concern creeping in, "I know what will cheer you up. It is time for me to choose the first group of students to go into the mansion."  
  
An almost visible ripple of fear ran over the class. Each and every student was hoping that they would not be chosen, knowing that the creatures Snape had placed in the mansion were going to be a challenge beyond anything else that he had challenged them with before. The glances of terror between friends hoping not to be chosen were too numerous to count.  
  
Although not one student had spoken a word, Snape waited until the looks of dread had mostly left the student's faces, then began to speak again.  
  
"The chosen group will go in for a day this weekend. As this is the first time, I have been asked to ensure that the tasks are simple ones that any student, except perhaps Mr. Longbottom, are able to deal with on their own. Now, who to choose." Snape paused, and took his time walking slowly around the classroom, as if examining every student. After he had carefully scrutinized every student, he strode up to the front of the class and sat down at his desk. Without looking up, he read the names of the students he had chosen, "Hannah Abbot, Parvati Patil, Millicent Bulstrode, Pansy Parkinson. You will meet Professor McGonagall and myself at the doors of the Great Hall after breakfast on Saturday. You need only bring yourselves and you wands. Turn to chapter twelve of your books, read and summarize."  
  
With that, Snape began writing something on parchment at his desk, and the class opened their books and began to read. Carefully checking to see whether Snape was looking, Ron scribbled a note on a spare bit of parchment, 'Wonder why he didn't choose you?' and passed it across Hermione to Harry.  
  
Harry read it, wrote 'Why would he choose me?' and passed it back.  
  
Ron replied, 'Because he hates you.'  
  
As Ron was passing the note back to Harry, Hermione stopped it, wrote 'Do your work' showed it to both the boys, and then folded it inside her book and continued reading. Ron looked at Harry, rolled his eyes, and they both opened their books to start reading.  
  
*******  
  
That night at dinner, all the sixth-years could talk about was the DADA mansion, and what tasks the unlucky students would have to face.  
  
Ron was eagerly thinking of the most horrible creatures he could remember, speculating wildly with Harry, Seamus and Dean as to whether or not Snape would put any Chimareras (rare Greek monsters with lion's heads, goat's bodies and dragon's tails) in the mansion, or whether the students would have to face any of the Unforgivable curses.  
  
After spending most of the meal quietly listening to the boys discussing the horrible things that might happen to the students, Hermione interjected, "I think that all of you are forgetting that the Ministry is overseeing this, and they are not going to allow anything too dangerous, and they would certainly not allow the illegal dark curses to be used. Remember that it's a life sentence in Azkaban for using any of them." She looked slightly disapprovingly at them, and then said, "If you will all excuse me, I am off to the library."  
  
She got up, and proceeded to walk out of the hall. Seamus and Dean, who were not as close to Hermione as Ron and Harry, looked down at their plates and, slightly sheepishly, each took a mouthful of food.  
  
Watching Hermione walk out of the hall, Ron shook his head, "I think she needs to lighten up a bit. We were only joking. And I don't envy Hannah, Parvati, Millicent or Pansy, imagine being told that you have to go in the mansion first, and with only one day to go..." he trailed off.  
  
Seamus looked up, "Snape should have told them on Monday, not on Thursday." he shook his head reproachfully.  
  
Harry pushed his plate away slightly. "Still, I suppose she's right; and anyway, we should probably start our homework now."  
  
Ron groaned, then said resignedly, "All right, then."  
  
They got up from the Gryffindor table and made their way slowly up to the dormitories to get their books, then joined most of the Gryffindors in the common room, studying and gossiping. Harry and Ron heard snippets of their fellow housemates conversations as they walked towards a spare table.  
  
"I heard that they would only be allowed out if they can finish all of the tasks."  
  
"Really! Wow, I wonder what happens if someone gets trapped or stuck in there."  
  
"Well I heard that the teachers would go and let them out if that happens"  
  
"Seems like a bit of a shame though, to do that."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Well, isn't the point of the DADA mansion to prepare students for tricky situations in N.E.W.T's, or after school? What's the point of letting them go in the mansion knowing that they are going to be rescued?"  
  
"Hmm, good point."  
  
Harry and Ron sat down at the table, Ron shaking his head.  
  
"I can't believe that people are making such a big deal over this." he whispered "I mean, it's only another obstacle course of Dark Arts stuff."  
  
Harry looked thoughtful. "We did do that obstacle course in third year."  
  
"Exactly!" Ron exclaimed, "This is only another school exam, really, why are people making such a big deal?"  
  
The portrait door opened and in came Hermione, who immediately saw Harry and Ron sitting together and walked over in time to hear the last part of what Ron said.  
  
Sitting down, she said airily, "People are gossiping because it's not exactly like anything that has been tried at Hogwarts before."  
  
Ron rolled his eyes, "We know that Hermione." he snapped.  
  
Harry jumped in before Ron did something he was very good at, provoking Hermione into an argument. "We were just talking about the obstacle course Lupin set up for us in third year, Hermione."  
  
Hermione merely nodded to this; she had already been distracted by one of the books she brought from the library.  
  
"Hermione? Are you alright?" Harry enquired.  
  
"W-what. Oh yes, sorry Harry, I'm fine. Really I am." she repeated when Harry looked as if he didn't believe her entirely.  
  
Shrugging, Harry leaned over and, keeping Hermione's page, closed the book so he could read the title.  
  
"See Why I Didn't Die When the Augurey Cried, by Gulliver Pokeby." Harry read aloud, looking at Hermione questioningly, "Why are you reading this?" Becoming more curious, Harry inspected the other book titles Hermione had brought up from the library. "Hairy Snout, Human Heart - a tale of one wizard's battle with lycanthropy and The Philosophy of the Mundane: Why the Muggles Prefer Not to Know, by Professor Mordicus Egg." Harry finished reading and was now studying Hermiones face closely.  
  
Ron was now looking at Hermione with a confused expression on his face. "But Hermione," he asked, "Why are you reading these books? We know you like to study, but these have absolutely nothing to do with any of your subjects." Ron looked utterly bewildered.  
  
Slightly impatiently, almost as if, Harry thought, it was to cover up embarrassment, Hermione replied, "It's just some background reading on topics related to Dark Arts creatures."  
  
Ron now looked really confused. "How is The Philosophy of the Mundane: Why the Muggles Prefer Not to Know background reading for Dark Arts?"  
  
Harry looked interested in the answer to this question as well.  
  
"Well, it might give me some insight as to how Muggles ignore all the obvious signs of magic that are around." Hermione was now starting to look slightly flustered.  
  
"How?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well, there might be a clue as to a charm that could also be helpful in repelling Dark Arts creatures, or confusing them for long enough to escape." Hermione started to pack up her books and get up.  
  
"Where are you going, Hermione?" Harry asked.  
  
She turned to look at him and said, "Oh, I'm just a little tired today, I think I'll go up to bed. Goodnight."  
  
The two boys watched her as she walked up the stairs towards the girl's dormitories.  
  
Harry turned to Ron as soon as Hermione was out of earshot. "Is it just me or was that more than just the usual amount of worry she puts in over her homework?"  
  
Ron looked thoughtful, "Yeah, I think something's definitely up with her. You should go find out if she's ok."  
  
Harry looked somewhat bewildered. "It's not that I wouldn't, but why should I have to go see if she's ok? Why not you?"  
  
Ron replied airily, "Ah, the answer to that question is simple, my young midget," Harry glared at Ron, who took no notice and settled more comfortably into his chair.  
  
"Well, do you care to enlighten me?" said Harry.  
  
"Ah, I suppose I could. I, Ronald Weasley, at the moment, am much too comfortable to get up."  
  
Harry glowered at Ron, who was, in fact, slowly falling asleep in his chair, got up and ran up the stairs after Hermione.  
  
*******  
  
Next chapter: We find out why Hermione was reading those books. We also see our first group, Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy, off into the Defence Against the Dark Arts mansion.  
  
And can I just ask everyone to please take a few minutes to review my story; I need to know what you like and what you don't like. Thanks. 


	3. The DADA Mansion chapter three

THE DADA MANSION  
  
CHAPTER THREE - The First Group  
  
Harry glowered at Ron, who was, in fact, slowly falling asleep in his chair, got up and ran up the stairs after Hermione.  
  
"Hermione!" he called after her.  
  
She stopped just as she was about to close the dormitory room door.  
  
Looking slightly perplexed, she turned and faced him. "What's wrong, Harry?"  
  
Catching his breath, Harry replied, "What? Oh, nothing's wrong with me, Hermione."  
  
"Oh." she said, a little confused, "Well, why did you run after me? I thought something was wrong." Seeing that Harry was looking uncomfortable, she continued, "Is there something you need to say to me?"  
  
"Well, er..." his voice trailed off, and he paused to clear his throat before continuing, "Are you all right Hermione? You seemed a bit, off, just before"  
  
Brushing his worry off, she replied, "Of course I'm all right Harry. Like I said, I'm just feeling tired today, that's all."  
  
Harry hesitated, then said, "Well, to tell you the truth, Hermione, you didn't seem completely all right back in the common room."  
  
Hermione looked slightly uncomfortable, as if she were debating whether or not she wanted to share whatever was wrong with Harry. Finally, she spoke. "Let's go for a walk, shall we?"  
  
Harry nodded and followed her down the stairs, back to the common room (where Ron was well and truly asleep on the couch), and out of the portrait hole. Hermione didn't seem to want to talk until they reached whatever destination she had picked, but Harry didn't mind. There were few people about at this time of evening, and it was an opportunity for Harry to enjoy walking around the castle, something that he never tired of doing. All the people in the portraits moving to talk to one another, the ghosts floating around, and overall the sense of magic that filled the air of Hogwarts . that, he thought, was something that he couldn't get anywhere else. Still following Hermione without consciously paying attention to where they were going, the evening air caught him by surprise as they exited the castle. Hermione lead Harry onto the path that went around the lake, and she finally started to explain what was going on.  
  
"You know how important school is to me, Harry?" He nodded and Hermione continued. "Well, this mansion that we're all supposed to go into for Defense Against the Dark Arts, it just seems like a bad idea to me. I don't know exactly why, I just got a terrible feeling about it when I first heard those school governors talking about it." She paused, as if unsure how to continue, and Harry jumped in.  
  
"I somewhat know what you're talking about, Hermione. It is a risk, and there is danger involved, but remember, this is a school; they're not going to put us in life-threatening danger."  
  
Hermione smiled slightly, but shook her head. "That's the first thing I tried to tell myself, too. But it's not just the danger and risk factor of the tasks that has me worried, and it's not even the fact that we are the trial year, and that some things are bound to go wrong. I... I hate to admit this, but I'm scared," She briefly looked at Harry's concerned face, and continued. "You will be great in the mansion, Harry. You've faced things much, much worse than this and you've always come out on top. This mansion will probably require someone to think on their feet, to think fast, remembering every single curse, hex, charm and probably potion that we've learnt so far in our years of magical education. I had those books out, however unrelated you clearly think they are--," she added at the look on Harry's face, "--because they might teach me something that I don't already know. Something that could save you, me, or the lives of whoever we're put in that mansion with," She stopped talking, seemingly suddenly at a loss for words.  
  
Harry didn't know what to say or do. Hermione had always worried about school, but at the same time, she'd always topped any class she was in, and probably always would. He didn't think she was telling him everything, though. Something about those books didn't quite fit in with Hermione's personality. For starters, if she had wanted to look for new spells, there were far more logical books for her to look in. Considering the amount of time Hermione spent in the library, she ought to have known this.  
  
Harry looked up, paying attention to his surroundings for the first time in a while. Looking at Hermione, he saw that she was gazing off into space, and for once Harry couldn't read the expression on her face. She seemed to sense him watching her and turned towards him, still looking slightly troubled.  
  
Harry smiled at her, and said quietly, "We should be heading back to the common room, it's getting dark."  
  
Hermione nodded her agreement, and they turned and walked towards the castle, silhouetted against the darkening sky.  
  
They reached the common room to find it empty of most students, and to find Ron snoring loudly in the chair where Harry had left him earlier. Harry shook his head, and told Hermione that she should go on up to bed. When Hermione was out of eyesight, Harry turned his attention to Ron, who looked like he would be asleep for the rest of the night. Even though it was tempting to leave him there, Harry decided not to; he wanted to talk to Ron about Hermione. Giving Ron a jab in the side with his finger only made Ron snore harder, so Harry chose to use a more drastic method of waking him up. Moving so he was standing behind the chair, Harry bent down, and lifted the chair with all his strength. It worked. Ron tumbled onto the floor asleep, then opened his eyes and looked around. When he saw Harry standing over him with his arms crossed on his chest and a self-satisfied look on his face, he responded.  
  
"Oi, Harry. What d'ya do that for?"  
  
"Someone had to. Your snoring is really loud, you know that?"  
  
"No, it's not," Ron replied indignantly.  
  
"Yes, it is, but that's not the point," Harry responded.  
  
Yawning, Ron got up off the floor and collapsed back into the chair. "So did you talk to Hermione? Is she ok?"  
  
Sitting down opposite Ron, Harry replied, "I'm not sure. She's really worried about the DADA mansion, Ron. She thinks that those odd books she was reading will help her in there."  
  
Ron looked slightly worried. "It's not like Hermione to be so illogical when she's trying to research something. Even using my imagination, I can't think of what would be helpful in those books."  
  
They both sat there for a few minutes, lost in thought. Then Ron shattered the silence with a massive yawn, which looked as though it shocked him for a second, then he and Harry both burst out laughing.  
  
"Well," Ron said, still chuckling, "I suppose I should go to bed now."  
  
*******  
  
Friday must have been the longest day ever at Hogwarts. The students were all on edge and couldn't stop talking about the mansion. Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy each had students following them around all day long, pestering them with questions about what they thought they were going to have to face in the mansion. Some of the teachers were in terrible moods by the end of the day, snapping at students to be quiet and do their work. Other teachers decided it was best for the students to get their excitement out of their systems, and let them talk and create as much noise as necessary. Eventually though, after many long, winding hours, Friday progressed into Saturday.  
  
Saturday morning breakfast was one of the noisiest ever in Hogwarts long history. Even some of the teachers were drawn into the party-like atmosphere and started looking like five-year-olds on Christmas Eve. Professor Trelawney, the Divination professor, sat at the teacher's table looking superior to the rest of the inhabitants of the school, as though she - and no-one else - knew what was going to happen.  
  
As soon as Dumbledore had finished his breakfast, Snape stood up. The hall went silent almost immediately, and all eyes turned to him. He cleared his throat unnecessarily, mostly just to draw out on the suspense of the moment. "Would Ms. Abbot, Ms. Patil, Ms. Bulstrode and Ms. Parkinson please stand and make your way down to the Entrance Hall?"  
  
With that, Snape strode down the center of the hall, ignoring the fact that every eye in the room was following him closely. Professor Dumbledore got up and followed Snape down the center of the hall, the difference this time was that he looked at the students. As soon as he had exited the hall, every student got up and there was a crush as they all tried to fit through the door at the same time. None of the teachers got in the way, they would have caused more trouble in the chaos. The students soon sorted themselves out and walked out onto the school grounds towards the almost-looming mansion. The mansion itself was quite large, but against the Hogwarts castle, it almost looked insignificant. Almost.  
  
The school gathered around the edge of the Dark Forrest, chattering, and crowded against the temporary magical barriers that had been put up. Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy were standing near what looked like the front doors to the mansion, alongside Professors Dumbledore and Snape. The four students seemed very nervous and apprehensive, as well as looking almost naked, they way they were standing there holding only their wands. Dumbledore leaned down to speak to them, and the crowd quieted, leaning in to try and hear what he was saying.  
  
"... You will only have a limited amount of tasks to complete, and they should be of negligible difficulty for sixth-year students of such skill as yourselves. The tasks that have been set should only take you until dinnertime tonight to complete. Food will be provided within the mansion when needed. Good luck, and we will see you tonight at dinner."  
  
The door to the mansion opened. Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy nervously looked at each other and slowly walked toward the open door. The crowd of students started cheering, which seemed to give the girls more confidence as they walked into the mansion, and the door closed behind them.  
  
Students gradually started to drift away back to the castle.  
  
"Well, that seemed a bit melodramatic," commented Hermione.  
  
"Hmm. I suppose there's not too much more to do now than wait until tonight and see what happened in there," Harry replied.  
  
"Now then, what shall we do for the rest of the day?" asked Ron  
  
"I was thinking we might as well go and see Hagrid, that way we'll be near the forest when they come out," replied Harry.  
  
"We might as well, eh?" said Ron  
  
Hermione glared at them.  
  
"What?" Ron said indignantly, glancing at Harry to see if he knew what Hermione was annoyed at. Harry just shrugged.  
  
"You two are pathetic. You only want to stay with Hagrid so that you will be one of the first to talk to the girls when they come out of the mansion, so that everyone else will have to talk to you to find out what happened. It's simply dismal. I'm not wasting a day just to try and be Little Miss Popular. If you need to find me, I'll be in the library."  
  
With that, Hermione turned and walked off to the castle.  
  
Shaking his head, Ron turned to Harry. "Man, she's mental. As if we'd waste a day just trying to be the popular guys who have all the news about the mansion."  
  
Giving him a meaningful look, Harry said, "Yeah. Imagine."  
  
They walked off towards Hagrid's hut.  
  
*******  
  
It was beginning to get dark now, and the wind was picking up on the Hogwarts grounds. Harry and Ron were the only students left waiting by the magical barriers outside the mansion. The other students, who had gathered there out of curiosity, had left a while ago, more concerned about eating dinner than talking to the girls when they came out of the mansion.  
  
"They're taking a long time, aren't they?" said Ron, "I wonder what tasks they had set, I."  
  
He paused as he heard footsteps coming up behind them, and Professor McGonagall cut him off in the middle of his sentence. "I told you two to go back up to the hall for dinner. Go now, before I take twenty points off Gryffindor!"  
  
"Twenty!" Ron exclaimed.  
  
"Each," replied Professor McGonagall coldly.  
  
"We're going Professor," said Harry.  
  
Grumbling slightly, they made their way up and into the castle, and took a seat at the end of the Gryffindor table in the hall.  
  
"Another Hogwarts dinner. Yum," said Ron sarcastically, "Where's Hermione? Don't tell me she's still in the library."  
  
Looking up and down the table, Harry said, "I can't see her. Why is it that we get in trouble from McGonagall for almost missing dinner because we are out in the forest, but Hermione never gets in trouble for all the times she's missed dinner because she's been in the library?"  
  
"Actually, I almost always make it in time for the end of dinner." Hermione had arrived, her bag weighed down with books. She sat down at the last seat available, next to Harry. "You two are usually just having too much fun playing with your food to notice that I arrive."  
  
Harry blushed as Ron started laughing, "You really know how to put your foot in it don't you?" he laughed.  
  
Harry glared at Ron. "Oh shut up," he said.  
  
Dinner slowly calmed down as it went on, and the number of students constantly standing to look at the entrance to the hall diminished. Soon, it began to feel like a normal Hogwarts dinner. The hall slowly drained of occupants, those students who felt no need to hang around waiting for the sixth-years to come out of the mansion. Even most of the sixth-years were over the excitement and chose to go back up to their respective dormitories to get on with homework or relaxing. Hermione, as usual, left the table as soon as she had finished eating, presumably to go back to the library. Just as Harry, Ron and some fellow Gryffindors were planning on going back up to their common room, the door to the hall burst open, nearly hitting the edge of the Slytherin table.  
  
Hannah stumbled into the hall, gasping as though she'd just run a marathon. Harry got up hurriedly and ran over to help her sit down on the nearest bench seat. She just sat there, gasping for breath for a few minutes as the remaining occupants of the Great Hall gathered around her. While she was catching her breath, the hall was silent. Not only did no one speak, but there was no audible intake of breath. Not one person moved an inch. The only sound was Hannah's rapid breathing.  
  
After a short while, Hannah's breath subsided, but she still seemed anxious. As she took a breath to speak, the door to the Great Hall blew open for the second time that night.  
  
In stormed Parvati, Millicent and Pansy. They saw Hannah surrounded by the leftover occupants of the hall, exchanged looks with each other, and strode furiously towards her. The crowd around Hannah parted rapidly to let them through.  
  
*******  
  
Many thanks to CrabNebula78, Destiny, hermione512, Stellar Snape and Memo Malfoy for their reviews.  
  
Next chapter: We see the main characters go into the DADA Mansion and face the perilous tasks. 


	4. The DADA Mansion chapter four

**THE DADA MANSION**

**CHAPTER FOUR – Into The Mansion**

The crowd around Hannah parted to let Parvati, Millicent and Pansy through. Pansy stopped with millimeters to spare, her stature drawing Hannah's attention so that she looked up at her. Pansy was absolutely livid.

"How _dare_ you run away. You filthy, worthless, _idiot_," she screamed. "How dare you just leave us there!"

Hannah looked at Parvati and Millicent for support, but to no avail. They were glaring at her unsympathetically while Pansy continued to rattle off abuse, which, being a Slytherin, was something that she could do well.

The few teachers that were left in the hall immediately rose and started running down to the end of the hall, wanting to end the dispute before it went any further.

Professor Snape, who had been waiting in a room off the Great Hall for exactly this reason, chose this moment to intervene.

"Silence!" he roared furiously. Pansy took heed of the angry note in his voice and stopped yelling at Hannah. "All of you, to my office _now_."

Based on his fury, the girls meekly followed him out of the hall.

Hermione's personal charm-alarm clock started whistling and beeping at her. Unenthusiastically, she turned over in her bed, sat up and turned off the alarm. Yawning, she stood up and slipped into her Hogwarts robes, then headed out of her dorm. Sleepily stumbling down the stairs until she arrived in the Gryffindor common room, she saw that Harry and Ron were already waiting for her, sitting in chairs, looking just as sleepy as she felt.

"Remind me again why we're awake at five in the morning," complained Ron.

Harry started to reply, but interrupted himself with a yawn, and this, in Ron's opinion, proved that they should all still be snug in bed.

Shaking her head and sitting down in the vacant chair next to Harry, Hermione decided to take control of the situation before both Harry and Ron fell fast asleep in their seats. "We're here so that we can go over what little we know about the DADA mansion," Looking forcefully at the boys, she continued, "Do I need to remind either of you that we have to go into the mansion Friday night? As in tomorrow night? I, for one, would like to be fully prepared."

Ron looked up, "Hermione, this isn't…"

"Yes, this isn't even an assessed trip into the mansion. I know that, Ron. I read our instruction parchment too. We need to be as serious about this as we can. Our N.E.W.Ts are going to be one of the hardest tests that we take _in our life_. You've heard the stories that I have, the stories we've all been told ever since before we even took our O.W.Ls. We need every possible bit of practice, knowledge and experience possible."

"'Mione, Ron was only being a sleepy, stubborn, ah…" Harry trailed off at the look Ron gave him. Hermione stifled a giggle. "Listen, my point is, we know how important this is, not only to you, but to all of us."

"Ok then, down to work," She opened her notebook, which she'd already filled with extensive notes about the mansion. Harry and Ron saw the number of pages and settled back in their chairs, knowing they'd be there for a long time.

"Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy's turn in the mansion didn't go quite as they'd planned. Of course, this could have been because they didn't study at all before they went in, but that's why we're here. The charms that they briefed our class on were only at about a fifth-year level, and probably any intelligent fourth-year could have overcome the obstacles that they faced. Their problem was that they were too busy arguing with each other most of the time to pay attention to what was going on around them. Snape said that just for the simple fact that Hannah got scared and ran away, out of the mansion, from the rest of her group, they would have failed. This brings me to my first main point to note: communication. It will be absolutely vital that we all listen to each other when we are in the mansion. Without taking into consideration each other's ideas on a situation, we could miss out on a vital piece of information to solve whatever the task is." She paused, "What do you two think about that? _Harry!_ Open your eyes right this instant! Pay attention," Ron started sniggering. "Don't laugh, Ron. You were almost about to fall asleep too," He stopped. "Honestly, you two. I know neither of you worries about school as much as I do, but really, I would have thought you'd at least want to be prepared for this."

Harry and Ron looked almost sorry. Almost. They couldn't quite look sincere when they both wished they were still asleep.

Hermione shook her head, "Fine. We'll do this a different way. Harry, you take my notebook. Ron, you get a spare bit of parchment and start making notes of any ideas we come up with to improve what I've written."

Snape cleared his throat loudly, "Now, as we all know, our first group into the mansion did not get their 'pass'," he paused, glaring at Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy. "Regardless of this, the tasks have been renewed and will be at a sixth-year level. I have been asked that those of you going into the mansion this weekend take special notice of this. On that note, the school governors have asked me to send more students into the mansion at once." A ripple of fear (as common as parchment in Snape's classes) swept over the students. "In addition to Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley, the following students will also be going into the mansion on Friday night: Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Finnigan and Miss Brown. Class dismissed."

Somewhat in shock, Neville, Seamus and Lavender rose with the rest of the class and left the classroom, heading for lunch. Hermione looked irate.

"I can't believe that! We now have _one day_ to get Neville, Seamus and Lavender prepared to the same standard as we are. How can I possibly do that?" She started to run off, then stopped, turned, and said, "I'll be in the…"

"Library," chorused Harry and Ron.

The two boys watched Hermione run off, then once again started towards the Great Hall for lunch.

"We'd probably better warn Neville, Seamus and Lavender about her," said Ron.

They entered the hall and sat down opposite Neville, Seamus and Lavender, who still looked a bit dazed at the thought of going into the mansion in just one day. They all sat down at the Gryffindor table and began to eat their usual helpings of the wonderful house-elf prepared food.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have the dormitory to myself this weekend," said Dean cheerfully.

"Yeah, and whenever we get out of the mansion on Sunday, you'll probably have to put up with none of us ever speaking again, if that first trip into the mansion was anything to go by," said Seamus.

"That's if we get out at all," Neville added darkly.

Harry and Ron looked at each other.

"You two make it sound like we won't even come out alive! It's only an obstacle course," said Ron.

Neville and Seamus looked unconvinced.

Harry was looking at Lavender concernedly, for she had been very quiet ever since coming out of Defence Against the Dark Arts. "Are you all right, Lavender?" he asked.

She seemed to come out of a daze. "Yes, I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting to have to go into the mansion this weekend. I really don't think I'm ready for it yet."

Ron piped in, "Well, you've got no need to worry there. Hermione's been making us study almost non-stop ever since we were told about our turn in the mansion."

"Also, she ran straight to the library after class, so I think you can count on her making sure you're prepared to go in," said Harry.

"And you can count on her to not let you sleep tonight either," laughed Ron.

Neville, Lavender and Seamus did not look impressed.

Friday dinner was not a cheery affair for part of the Gryffindor table. Hermione was constantly looking over her notes, Ron was trying to forget his nerves by arranging his food into artistic piles on his plate, and Harry and Seamus were trying to keep a normal conversation going, while Neville and Lavender hadn't said a word since sitting down. Other Gryffindor's kept trying to attract one of the group's attention to wish them luck or to talk to them, but all of them kept their attention firmly on what they were doing, eager to forget what might be in store for them in only a short time.

All too soon, Professor Snape stood up. The noise in the Hall immediately dropped off to only a few whispers. Smirking slightly, he said, "Would Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Finnigan and Miss Brown please follow Professor Dumbledore and myself down to the mansion."

Snape walked down the center of the hall, followed by Dumbledore. Looking extremely apprehensive, the small group of Gryffindors got up and followed the professors out of the Great Hall.

The wind was blowing quite fiercely as they all stepped out of the door and onto the grounds. There was a collective shudder (not only from the wind) as they started following Snape and Dumbledore down towards the mansion. The walk down the sloping grounds under the sparkling night sky seemed to take no time at all to Harry. There was an odd atmosphere in the air, one almost like déjà vu. The wind seemed to drop off suddenly as they approached the forest, making Harry feel vaguely spooked. Mentally shaking himself, he tried to take deep breaths to calm him and clear his mind for the tasks ahead.

Snape and Dumbledore stopped on the porch and allowed the students to catch up. Once they were all standing there, Dumbledore waved his wand, and the magical barriers sprung up, surrounding the mansion.

The other students from the Hall were quickly filtering down the hill now, huddled in small clusters to protect themselves against the wind, eager to see the second group of students enter the mansion.

Dumbledore began to speak, "Now, even though the difficulty of the tasks has been upgraded since the first group of students went in, you shouldn't have any trouble completing the tasks that have been set."

Snape took over, "This outing into the mansion has been designed as such so that you should have all tasks completed sometime around midday Sunday. You are all to stick together at all times. Is there anything you wish to add, Professor?"

Dumbledore smiled, "No, I think you've covered everything. Good luck to all of you."

Snape waved his wand at the front doors of the mansion, which swung open. The collection of students who had gathered to watch the entrance let out a collective gasp of anticipation. They stood there, craning their necks and pushing hard on the magical barriers in order to try and get a glimpse of the interior of the mansion. Dennis Creevey was sitting on his brother's shoulders, short and light as he was, to try and see in. People were alternating between looking at Dennis, to see if he could spot anything, and at the open mansion door.

Taking a deep breath, Hermione was the first of the group to take a step forward towards the open, looming door of the mansion. Briefly looking around, Harry followed her. This seemed to jolt the other four back to reality, and they followed. As soon as they'd crossed the threshold into the mansion, they seemed to disappear from sight. Dennis let out a sound of exclamation, and the students pressed even harder against the barriers.

The doors swung shut with a loud thud.

Snape and Dumbledore made a gap in the barriers, walked through, and headed up to the school without a backward glance. The students who had gathered around the mansion seemed unwilling to leave, although a few did drift back to the castle after the professors.

The mansion was warmer than Hermione had expected. From the outside, it looked like a damp, dreary building ready to be condemned.

Ron let out a shaky breath, "Well, that was painless."

"So far," said Seamus darkly.

"So where do we go from here?" asked Lavender.

"I guess we just walk until we see something," said Hermione suspiciously.

She looked around. The entrance doors to her back, she first looked left, to a closed door, then right, to a long, dark hallway with no visible doors or distinguishing features. Then, immediately in front of where they were huddled, a grand staircase, with another closed door just to the left of it.

"Anyone have a preference?" she asked.

Harry, Ron, Seamus and Lavender shook their heads.

"Neville?" Hermione asked.

"Er, ju-just as long as it's not the d-dark hallway," he stammered quickly.

Making up his mind, Harry crept forwards, towards the grand staircase. Just as he lifted his foot to the first step, he was blown backwards by something of a great force. Flying through the air, he fell onto Neville, knocked him over, then lay on the ground with his eyes closed. Hermione gasped and sidestepped over Neville, who was shaking his head and getting up, to reach Harry.

Kneeling down beside him, she exclaimed, "Harry! _Harry!_ Are you all right? Come on, Harry, wake up," she gently squeezed his hand, trying to wake him.

Ron stepped over, visibly pale, and bent down next to Hermione. "Harry?" he said questioningly. When there was no response, he started slapping Harry's face lightly.

Harry suddenly turned over, almost squashing Hermione and Ron. Looking groggily at them, he said, "What happened?"

A look of intense relief washed over Hermione's face. "You tried to walk up the staircase and were thrown back onto the floor."

"And Neville," added Ron.

He slowly sat up, supported by Seamus and Ron. "Well, I wouldn't advise anyone else to try that," he said, "Ouch." Neville looked as though the shock was wearing off, and Lavender was standing with her back against the entrance doors, wide-eyed.

Hermione got up and looked curiously at the first step on the staircase.

"Careful, Hermione," warned Harry, "It hurts more than it looks like it would."

She heeded his warning and withdrew back to where everyone else was.

"Help me up, would you?" asked Harry.

Ron and Seamus each held one of Harry's arms and steadied him as he rose. Experimentally taking a step, he found that nothing was damaged, so he asked, "Where to now, then?"

Hermione looked cautiously around. "I think we should take that hallway," she said, pointing to her right, "I know it looks more threatening than the other options, but the stairs looked more welcoming, and look what happened."

They nodded their agreement.

No one moved.

In a small room adjacent to the teacher's common room, there were various types of magical monitors set up. Snape sat in the darkened room, watching the progression of his students. When Harry was thrown back onto the floor, a small smirk crept its way onto his lips; a smirk he only half tried to cover up when the door opened and Professor Dumbledore walked in.

"How are the students going, Severus?" he asked.

"There's no permanent damage done to them. Mr. Potter got himself projected back from the grand staircase and landed on Mr. Longbottom. Other than that, they've been dithering around."

Dumbledore nodded, "Continue to keep an eye on them. Minerva will take over from you in a few hours," He turned and left Snape alone with the magical monitors.

Hermione looked around to see if anyone else was going to take the first step down the hallway. Harry's nerve seemed a little damaged from his accident, and the rest of them didn't seem too confident, especially Neville, who was at the back of the group, not quite cowering, but she got the feeling that it wouldn't take long for him to start. Pursing her lips at the rest of the groups' lack of action, she held out her wand in front of her and proceeded very slowly towards the corridor. When she got to the open threshold, she paused and very gently poked her wand at it. Nothing. She tried again. Still nothing happened, so she stepped over. Looking behind her, she saw that Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus and Lavender were watching her closely, standing out of the direct line to the hallway in case she flew back like Harry had.

"Come on then," she said. "There's nothing here to hurt you…"

Hermione disappeared from sight.

Lavender screamed. Harry and Ron stepped forward, as if to make sure that she wasn't there. Then, as they realised she had indeed disappeared, their jaws dropped open simultaneously.

"Gosh, she really has vanished," said Ron, dumbstruck.

Neville fainted.

"Oh bugger," said Seamus. "Now what are we going to do?"

Harry took a moment to collect himself, then replied, "It's simple. Ron and I will keep going and try to find Hermione, while you and Lavender stay here and try to wake Neville up. Once he's awake, move him to the entrance parlour, and wait for us there."

Lavender looked at Harry, "But we're supposed to stay together, Snape said so."

Ron came to Harry's defence, "Well, Snape can kiss my..."

"Ron!" said Harry reproachfully, "Lavender's right, we are supposed to stick together. We'll just wait until Neville wakes up, then go find Hermione."

There was a murmur from the floor, and Neville turned onto his side as if he were in bed.

"This mansion really seems to be over-rated," Harry muttered to himself. Then, louder, he said, "Poor Neville. Everything seems to happen to him."

"... Nothing here to hurt you, alri-" Hermione broke off in the middle of the word. She looked around. A window. That was the lone defining feature of the box-sized room she was in. She took a step over to the window and immediately stepped back in surprise. She was at the top of the mansion.

Neville stirred and opened his eyes. Seeing everyone sitting on the floor next to him, he groaned quietly, tried to prop himself up on his hands, then gave up and lay back on the floor.

"Hey mate," said Seamus, "You fainted."

Neville didn't say anything; he just rolled his eyes in an expression of 'Once again, it happened to me'.

Harry rose. "If you're feeling alright, Neville," Neville nodded. "Then I think we should get moving and try to find Hermione. Clearly, the hallway isn't the place for us to go at this time, so I say we try the closed door that was to the left of us as we came in."

They all got up, stretching and mumbling various comments, some polite, others not so polite, about the tasks of the mansion.

They all paused as Harry took a hold of the door handle. Ron, Seamus and Lavender drew out their wands and held them at the ready, while Neville stood well clear of all of them.

Harry took a deep breath, and suddenly turned pushed the door open with such as force that it hit the wall, and came flinging back at him, so hard that it slammed closed again. Harry let out a nervous giggle, "Oops."

Ron just looked at him reproachfully. "Ok, change of plans. I think I'll open the door, if that's alright with you, Harry?"

Harry shrugged and took Ron's place, holding his wand to the ready.

Ron gently slid the door open an inch. He paused, then, satisfied that he couldn't hear any monsters, pushed the door open all the way.

An odd scene was opened to their eyes. A large, old-fashioned sitting room, full of big, over-stuffed chairs, bookcases so full they looked like they would break, and, central to the chairs, an unlit fireplace.

Shaking, Hermione slid down the wall until she was sitting. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried saying "It's only an illusion, it's only an illusion," but it was no good. She was utterly terrified by the view from the window.

Ron stepped into the center of the room, followed by Harry, Seamus, Lavender, and Neville.

The room was entirely unremarkable, thought Harry. Sure, it was nicely designed; the chairs looked comfortable, but there were hundreds of houses like this all over England. They were all so busy looking around the room that none of them noticed the door had quietly shut itself behind Neville, then dissolved into the wall, unnoticeable. They all wandered around the room for a moment, bemused at the obvious partly from lack of actual challenges they'd had so far, and partly because there was nothing odd in the room.

Ron was turning slowly on the spot, in the center of the room. "I don't get it," he said, clearly mystified. "I thought this mansion was supposed to be a challenge, not just a house for us to wander around in."

Harry flopped down into one of the over-stuffed chairs, "Well, to tell you the truth, Ron, that's what I thought too. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. The less we have to do in here to pass, the better."

Seamus snorted as he too sat on one of the chairs, "You've got to be glad Hermione isn't here to hear you say that. She'd be at your throat."

Lavender and Neville were picking out books off one of the bookshelves, and flicking through them. "Why are you looking at books?" asked Ron.

"Yeah, I agree," said Seamus. "I mean, there _are_ these chairs here for us to rest on, so why are you doing work?"

Lavender and Neville looked around. "I–I don't kn-know why I am," stuttered Neville, glancing at Lavender. She just shook her head.

"Well, I advise you pull up a chair," suggested Harry lazily, gesturing with his arm to the empty chairs in the room.

Ron still stood in the middle of the room, though now he was looking around vaguely, as if he were not quite sure of what he was looking at.

Harry noticed this, "What are you looking for, Ron?" he asked.

"Er, well, I'm not entirely sure. I-I think I was looking for some way out, so we can go and find Hermione, but I thought of a reason not to, I'm just not sure..." he trailed off as Seamus, Neville and Lavender all rose from their chairs at the same time and began walking in complicated patterns around the room.

Harry's jaw dropped. "Wh-what are they doing?" he exclaimed.

Ron just stood there for a moment, then turned his back on Harry and started following the others around the room.

Harry closed his eyes and shook his head hard, as if willing himself not to be seeing this scene. He opened his eyes again, cautiously. They were still walking in complicated patterns around the room, and they had started muttering to themselves. Harry couldn't quite make out the words, but it sounded like a chant being chanted in rounds, the way they did in Muggle primary schools where they force you to sing songs like "Row, row, row your boat". Harry could feel himself being pulled into the chant; the slow, steady, rhythmic sound of their voices made the patterns seem like elegant embroidered decorations. It was tempting, so, so tempting to just give in to the wonderful sensation that was sweeping over him._ NO!_ He plugged his fingers in his ears to block out the sound. _I will not listen, _he thought. He forced himself to focus his mind on nothing. _Think nothing, then it can't get to you._ Surprisingly, it worked. All of a sudden, he felt himself snap back into reality, his mind perfectly clear. It was obvious, now. The room had a Confundus Charm on it; a subtle one, that took effect slowly so that no one would notice him or herself being bamboozled by it. Harry turned, and walked in front of Ron. "Stop," he said, in a loud and firm voice. Ron tried to keep walking, but Harry grabbed him by his shoulders and spun him around so that they were face-to-face. Ron blinked, then looked around at the others.

"Was I doing that?" he asked. Harry nodded grimly.

"I think all you need to do to stop them is to break their habit," Harry said, "I'll take Lavender, you take Seamus. We'll do Neville together," Ron nodded.

Hermione had no idea how long it had been since she'd arrived in the room at the top of the mansion. "It seemed like I Apparated," she muttered to herself. "But that can't be, no one can Apparate on Hogwart's grounds, everyone knows that." She dropped her hands to the floor, her fingers clearing away the dust that had collected. Then she paused. There seemed to be a minute crack in the floor, running in a straight line. She traced it absentmindedly with her fingers, seeing how far it went. To her amazement, she found another line, perpendicular to the one she had traced. Scrambling to the side, she let out a loud groan of frustration. "I am _so_ stupid!" she said in annoyance. "It's a bloody trap door! Arrgh!"

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Hermione reached into her robes and pulled out her wand. Cautiously, taking a few minutes, she creaked the trap door open, inch by slow, painstaking inch. Not daring to stand up, as she would have been face-to-face with the window, she lowered herself carefully into the black emptiness that had appeared below the trap door.

Harry, Ron, Seamus, Neville and Lavender all stumbled out of the sitting room, and into a kitchen. A modern kitchen, like they would have expected to find in the basement of a fancy Muggle hotel. Food, lavishly prepared food, was waiting on the benches for them.

Harry glanced at his watch, "Whoa!" he exclaimed. "How long were we stuck in that room for?"

Ron peeked at his watch too, "It's half past eleven already! Where did the time go?" he asked.

"Who knows," replied Seamus tiredly, "All I know is that I want some of this food and my comfy bed," He reached out to the food, then suddenly recoiled his hand as if he'd been bitten. "What the – it, it just, it's like..." he trailed off.

Harry slowly stretched his hand out to the table of food, and then his hand recoiled just as fast as Seamus' had. "It's like an electric shock," he sighed resignedly.

"A what? The stuff Muggles use?" asked Ron.

Harry was just opening his mouth to respond when they all heard a scuffling noise. Wordlessly, they all drew out their wands and pointed them to the corner where the noise was coming from. There was a thud, then part of the wall fell away, and a dusty person crawled out.

"_Hermione!_" Harry called out, dropping his wand and rushing over to help her to her feet. "Are you alright? What happened to you?"

He was interrupted by Professor McGonagall's voice echoing around the room. "Well done, sixth years. You have completed the tasks set for today. You will find the food is now de-charmed and ready for you to eat. Boys will sleep in one corner, girls in the other. You will receive no further communications from any member of staff. Tomorrow, you shall have to find your own places to rest, sleep and eat. Goodnight."

They turned around to see that camp beds had appeared, four on one side of the room and two on the other. Seamus gladly collapsed onto the one closest to him and fell asleep almost straight away, while the rest of them fell forwards to the food. There was little talk for a few minutes while they devoured the food, as they had all eaten very little at dinnertime.

"So what happened to you, Hermione?" Ron asked, "You just disappeared in that hallway, and now you crawl out of a wall."

Hermione shook her head, "I don't know much more than you do, Ron. I don't yet know what made me disappear. I ended up in a tiny room at, I mean, somewhere in the mansion. After a while I realised there was an exit, so I took it and ended up here," She shrugged. "I'll have to look it up after we get out of here. What did you four end up doing?"

Lavender groaned, "Look, you four are welcome to talk about this. Just keep it down, I'm going to bed," With that, she strode over to the other side of the room and lay down on a camp bed, her back to them. Neville yawned.

"I think I'll do the same."

Harry, Ron and Hermione were left standing in the middle of the room. Hermione shrugged again. "So what did happen to you?" she asked again.

Harry and Ron looked at each other. "Well, after you disappeared, we decided to try a different direction. We went into that closed door that was to our left when we entered, and..." Ron's voice trailed off, so Harry took over.

"Long story short, we were challenged by a Confundus Charm. It didn't seem like we were in the room for long, but we clearly were. It's odd, though. I think the charm took some time for it to have an effect on us, and it was broken fairly easily. That goes against everything I thought I knew about Confundus Charms."

Hermione nodded. "It is certainly odd. Perhaps it was a mixture of two charms; that could explain the effect it had on you. Remind me to look that up in the library."

Harry nodded his acknowledgment, but Ron snorted, "As if you'll need us to remind you to look it up. I would say you're going to need us to remind you to eat after this is over; you're going to be living in that library."

Hermione opened her mouth as if to respond, then closed it again when she realised Ron was probably going to be close to the truth.

It seemed like there was nothing else to say, so they turned and went to bed.


	5. The DADA Mansion chapter five

**THE DADA MANSION**

**CHAPTER FIVE – Nearly there**

They all woke up stiff the next morning. Clearly, comforting charms had _not_ been placed on the camp beds. Harry supposed that this was a part of the test of the mansion; Ron certainly seemed to think so, he wouldn't stop complaining.

After listening to Ron complaining non-stop whilst they ate breakfast (cold cereal), Harry finally lost his temper and snapped, "Would you just shut up! We are all just as sore as you."

Hermione looked taken aback by Harry's sudden show of anger, but chose not to comment, she just turned and headed into the small bathroom that had appeared in a corner of the kitchen.

Seamus yawned loudly, "I wonder what we'll have to do today, I hope it's not too hard, I don't feel like spending my weekend doing hard work," he paused, saw the look on Hermione's face, and continued, "but I know how important this is to our education, so I shall endeavor to do my very best."

Ron's snort of laughter was by no means quiet or subtle.

There wasn't much talk for a while as they ate. In a short space of time, they had all finished and the bowls and cutlery flew themselves off into the sink and began washing themselves, and the camp beds disappeared.

"So," said Harry, "what are we going to do now?"

A door appeared where the girl's beds had been.

"It looks like we go through that door," said Ron obviously.

Hermione looked at him, "Very perceptive, Ron."

Harry looked around, "Wands out," he said.

Seamus walked so that he was closest to the door, "It's my turn to do something," he said, taking the door handle in his hand and pulling it open. A very narrow corridor stood before them.

"Wow," muttered Hermione, "this looks just like one of the servant passages from the turn of the century."

Harry looked at her, "I agree. So is this likely to mean that we're going to face some old curses, or is it just decoration?"

Hermione shrugged, "I can only guess at that, but it would be a good idea for everyone to keep in mind these may be old curses."

"Does that mean the curses are going to be easier or harder to break?" asked Lavender.

"Unfortunately, it could mean either one of those two. Some of the ancient curses were a joke compared with today's standards; however, there were also quite a few which are stronger than anything we learn at Hogwarts. All I can suggest is to be wary and alert," replied Hermione.

They crept into the hall, Ron shutting the kitchen door behind him as he left.

"Wouldn't it make sense to leave a gap in between us?" asked Harry. "That way, if something jumps out at us, or whatever, we'll be able to deal with it easier and faster."

Hermione nodded, "I agree."

They started walking down the hall, following Seamus, and leaving a gap of about five paces or so separating each person. They skulked up the hallway, pausing to try and open each door that they passed. They were all locked. All except for one, right at the end of the hallway. Seamus cautiously opened the door, then backed away quickly, knocking Neville over in his haste, as if he were expecting someone to come flying out of it and start using the Unforgivable Curses.

It was a small, dark and damp cupboard-sized room. Ron pushed his way to the front and stuck his head in the room. "Cool," he said. Fears and precautions forgotten, he stepped into the room and started looking around, tapping the walls.

Harry stepped forward, "That sounds hollow." Following Ron's lead, he stepped into the room and started not tapping on the walls, but running his hands along them, as if he were trying to find...

They all jumped back. A hatch in the wall had slid away, revealing an old, narrow and tall staircase.

"My turn to lead, I suppose," said Neville, pushing his way to the front of the group. He started slowly up the stairs, followed by Seamus, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Lavender.

It was not the most pleasant place to be, thought Harry. The stairs creaked every time someone shifted their weight; it had a horrible musty smell, as if it no fresh air had passed thorough it in a long time, and it was narrow, so narrow it was almost hard to balance yourself.

Neville was nearly half way up the stairs as Harry put his foot on the first step. As Harry looked up, Neville seemed to wobble, nearly regained control, then toppled backwards onto Seamus, who in turn fell onto Harry, who landed with a thud at Hermione's feet. He heard a sudden outburst of giggling from Lavender as he got up and brushed himself off. All of a sudden it seemed to set the rest of them off; Hermione and Ron were laughing so hard at the comical incident that had just happened that they needed to support each other in order to remain upright.

Harry just glared at them, a bit to embarrassed to put together a scathing comment to them. He, Seamus and Neville pointedly ignored their three laughing companions, and turned, ready to start going up the stairs again.

"Neville," said Harry, enunciating his words clearly and pointedly, "it's just a trick stair, like the ones in the castle, so all you have to do is jump over it." The peals of laughter continued from behind him. Starting to get annoyed, he turned on them, "Are you three just going to stand there laughing all day, or are you going to come with us so we can," he looked at Hermione, "_pass_ this subject?"

Ron kept laughing, "Yep, we're just gonna keep on."

Hermione let out a few more giggles, then stopped. "Sorry, Harry." she choked out, clearly still containing a few laughs.

Harry glared momentarily at her, then spun on his heel and started walking up the stairs, followed, at a distance, by Hermione. The giggles below subsided only when Harry, Seamus and Neville had successfully jumped over the trick stair. Harry managed to reach the top of the staircase without any other mishaps. It was only then that he turned and saw Ron and Lavender sober up and start climbing the stairs.

As Harry reached the last stair, he stopped suddenly, nearly making Seamus lose his balance as he bumped into Harry.

"Ouch, why did you stop?" he said indignantly.

Harry leaned towards the wall slightly, allowing Seamus a clear view of what Harry was facing.

"Oh," said Seamus, "A blank wall. What do we do now?"

"Well, we could-" he started to say.

"Try Alohamora," interrupted Hermione.

"-try Alohamora," finished Harry. "Thank you, Hermione," he called down, sarcasm seeping in slightly. He was almost certain that he heard a 'you're welcome' float back up the stairs. Gritting his teeth, Harry turned his concentration to the blank wall in front of him. Pulling out his wand, he said, "_Alohamora!_" and the wall slid open in front of him. Somewhat surprised that such a basic charm had worked; Harry stepped through the gap with some trepidation. Nothing happened though, and Harry was starting to think that this mansion was just a bunch of anti-climatic tasks. Nevertheless, Harry didn't move more than one step into the room. He simply stood and surveyed it first. Once again, it was a relatively unremarkable room, a large, square bedroom with a four-poster bed not unlike the ones that were in the dormitories in Gryffindor Tower, with a matching large wardrobe and a door directly opposite the hole Harry climbed out of. He couldn't see anything that looked dangerous or suspicious, so he gestured for Seamus to follow him through. Soon they were all standing rather stiffly in the bedroom, as if they were expecting monsters to jump out and attack them from every direction.

Ron shook his head, said, "This mansion is boring," and went to sit down on the bed. When nothing happened, Hermione followed him and sat next to him, tapping her wand thoughtfully on her hand. Harry looked around the room, but he wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings until he approached the door at the other end, when suddenly a fire sprung up, burning high, too high for them to get past it. Harry jumped instinctively away from the flames.

He turned back to face the bed, his heart beating fast. Ron got up to see if Harry was all right, and guided him to sit on the bed, next to Hermione. It only took Harry a few moments to recover his heart rate, but he sat without saying a word for a few more moments, feeling slightly stupid.

Hermione looked sideways at Harry, "Are you ok?" she asked, concerned.

Harry sat up straighter, "Yes, I'm fine. It just shocked me for a moment, that's all."

Satisfied that his best friend was all right, Ron flopped on the floor, stretching out. "Well, I hope our assessed trip later this year is as easy as this." He looked up and saw a glare from Hermione. "No, really, Hermione; why can't I look forward to an easy assessment? What is so wrong with that?"

Hermione was just starting to argue when she was cut off by an exclamation from Ron. "What is it?" she asked.

Ron just ignored Hermione and began to slide himself across the floor towards the bed where Hermione's legs were dangling off the edge.

"Ron, what are you doing?" asked Harry, bewildered at Ron's behavior as he slid himself on the floor between Hermione's legs, extracting a yelp of disgust from Hermione and Harry simultaneously.

He kept crawling until he was nearly completely under the bed, when they heard a ripping noise, followed by Ron's head popping out, cheerfully looking at them and waving a bright purple bit of parchment.

"Look," he said, completely unnecessarily, as they were all staring at him.

Regaining her composure faster than anyone else, Hermione asked, "Well, what is it, Ron? Is there anything written on it?"

They all gathered around Ron as he unfolded the parchment and read from it:

'Look in the wardrobe.'

Ron looked up at the faces surrounding him, then turned to look at the wardrobe. "Well, what do you say we try it?"

Hermione stood and walked over to the wardrobe. As she stood next to it, it vibrated slightly and then stayed still. Lavender wandered over, and she and Hermione stood very still, listening and watching it for any sign of movement.

After a few minutes, the wardrobe had rattled only occasionally, giving off no signs of deadly danger, so Neville wandered over. "What do you think it is? Could it be a boggart?"

Hermione suddenly stared at the door with immense concentration, "I don't think so, Neville."

Neville looked affronted, "It fits, Hermione: it's in a dark, enclosed space which is rattling occasionally. That's textbook for a boggart."

Hermione shook her head, annoyed, "Fine, Neville, if you're so sure it's a boggart, then _you_ take care of it."

"Alright, I will."

Hermione and Lavender moved away from the wardrobe to where Harry and Seamus were standing.

Neville paused, clearly hoping that he had been correct in his assumption. He pointed his wand at the doorknob, and the door came flying open, followed by...

"Snape!" exclaimed Lavender.

Snape walked menacingly forwards, his eyes focused on Neville, who concentrated hard, then said, "_Riddikulus!_" The familiar whip crack sound was heard, and Snape appeared in a woman's dress, complete with a stuffed vulture hat.

Hermione turned her back on Snape as Ron, Seamus, Lavender and Harry began laughing; nothing quite compared to a cross-dressing teacher for laughter, but Hermione didn't care. Nothing had been going right for her so far in this mansion. She turned back, sat on the bed and thoughtfully watched everyone else enjoying themselves. Why was this trip into the mansion going so well, she wondered. Surely it had been set up this way to lure them into a false sense of confidence? Harry noticed Hermione watching them thoughtfully, and went to sit down next to her.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" he asked.

She just shook her head, "Something's not quite right; why is this mansion so easy?"

Harry just shrugged, "What's wrong with it being easy? And what happened to this not being, and I quote, '...not going to be the easy stuff...like getting past boggarts'?"

She glared at him, "That's exactly what's got me worried; I really thought it was supposed to be a lot harder, a real test of our abilities."

Harry started to reply, but was cut off by Ron, who let out another loud exclamation.

"_Another_ one? What – oh," he said, turning to face the group. "We've got a test here, folks."

Hermione scrabbled off the bed and over to Ron, quickly reading this new parchment over his shoulder.

"Well," said Harry, "what is it?"

Ron looked up, "We've got to write the answer to three questions on this parchment."

Neville looked around, "There's no quill in here."

Harry looked around. Neville was right; nowhere in the room was a quill.

"So, well just have to conjure one," said Ron.

"I'll try," offered Lavender. "I had to read some books when I was in detention with McGonagall that discussed conjuring quills that don't need ink."

Hermione looked surprised that Lavender would remember such a thing, but she nodded, "Go ahead."

Lavender smiled, then took out her wand and concentrated hard. After a few minutes, she managed to make a quill appear. Smiling proudly, she turned to the group, "We'd better do it quickly, I have no idea how long the quill will last."

Hermione grabbed the parchment and read it out, "Question one: What does Clause 73 of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy state? Question two: Who is 'Dodgy Dirk'? Question three: During the International Confederation of Wizards meeting in 1962, what was it that the Goblins did not agree on?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other, then at Hermione, as did Neville, Seamus and Lavender.

"Well, you should know most of those answers, Hermione," said Ron. "After all, you were usually the only person who paid attention in Binn's class."

Hermione glared at Ron, "Yeah, and you're the person who takes my notes and copies them, Ron," she snapped back, making Harry smirk. She turned to him, "Don't you smirk at me, Harry. You're just as bad a Ron. Honestly, if it weren't for me, you two would have failed nearly every class."

"Umm, not meaning to interrupt," Lavender interjected, "but I honestly don't know how long that quill will last for."

"You're right," said Hermione. "We should get on with this."

Hermione sat on the bed with the quill in front of her, and looked around expectantly. "Clause 73 of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, er – I read this recently, ah, what was it?" she muttered. "Something to do with the governing body's responsibility."

Harry racked his brain, he was sure that he too had read this recently. "Er, was it to do with the control of creatures?" he asked.

"Magical creatures, I think," said Seamus.

Hermione hastily scribbled this down. "Ok, it stated that each country's governing body was responsible for the concealment of it's magical creatures." She looked around, to judge everyone's opinions.

Harry nodded, as did Neville and Ron.

"Alright, question two: Who is 'Dodgy Dirk'?" Hermione looked around, clearly not having a clue who this person was.

"Do we have a time limit?" asked Neville.

Ron peered over Hermione's shoulder at the parchment. "It doesn't say anything about that, but I guess we shouldn't take too long, not only because of the quill," he said, looking in Lavender's direction, "but even if it doesn't say, it'd be just like Snape to put a time limit on each test and not tell us."

Harry looked at Ron, "Agreed," he said.

"Same here," said Seamus.

"So we'd better hurry," stated Hermione. "Does anyone know who this 'Dodgy Dirk' is? Or shall we skip to the next question?"

"Next question," decided Harry.

Hermione looked back at the parchment, "During the International Confederation of Wizards meeting in 1962, what was it that the Goblins did not agree on?" she paused, thinking, while everyone else just looked confused, "I remember a reading a reference to this... what was the meeting about?"

Something jogged in Harry's memory, "Was it in Fantastic Beasts, Hermione?" he asked.

She looked up, "Of course! The Goblins refused to agree on some of the species that were to be hidden by each country." She once again scribble the answer, and was just re-reading question two when the quill disappeared. "Damn it!" she said. "I think I had something more about question two..." she trailed off as the parchment erased itself and a new message appeared "Continue." She showed the parchment to everyone else.

"Continue to where?" Harry asked, seeing that the flames blocking their exit hadn't subsided.

Ron shrugged, "Dunno, mate. Maybe there's some other sort of test-"

His voice trailed off as a table appeared in the middle of the room with a loud pop, followed by another. He spun around to the source of the noise, and saw that a toilet had also appeared.

"Well, from the looks of it, I'd say we continue to lunch," said Seamus.

"Isn't it a bit early for lunch?" asked Lavender. "It's only... _what_? It's eleven already!" She looked around the room, "Why does the time seem to pass so fast here?"

"Time flies when you're having fun," said Harry.

Hermione giggled as the rest of the group looked confused at the Muggle joke.

"Well, I say we make the most of this food," Ron said, gesturing to the selection of sandwiches that had appeared behind Hermione on the bed.

They quickly filled themselves up on the sandwiches, washing them down with flagons of pumpkin juice that had appeared alongside them. After everyone had taken their turn at the toilet, it disappeared along with the remnants of their lunch. At the same time, the flames guarding the exit door quickly reduced themselves to ashes.


End file.
